Denver police want more eyes in the sky to watch activities on the streets near the Pepsi Center and along the 16th Street Mall in preparation for August’s Democratic National Convention.

The police hope to install at least 20 high-tech video cameras in the downtown core area that will be able to capture images as detailed as faces and license plates, said Sgt. Ernie Martinez of the Police Department.

Officials are searching for funds to install the cameras by spring, Martinez said.

“All officers have radios, but we want to put eyes to those ears,” Martinez said. “It puts a cop on every corner for the protection of the citizens in the area.”

That has some civil liberties advocates worried about intrusions on privacy.

“Cameras do not prevent crime,” said Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

Cameras could prevent people from holding lawful protests that are a part of the political process, especially during the convention, she said.

“There is no need to spy. This is spying,” Hazouri said. “You could be chilling the free expression of political dissent. People may be less likely to express themselves because of the fear of being on tape by the police.”

The video will be watched in a yet-to-be constructed video monitoring center in the downtown police headquarters and the digital video will be stored for 30 days before it will be purged, Martinez said.

The cameras will remain in place after the convention as part of the department’s High Activity Location Observation program, which has installed cameras at high-crime areas throughout the city, Martinez said.

Last week, the U.S. Justice Department and Target Corp. provided $400,000 in grants for 21 police surveillance cameras outside four Denver high schools.

The new wireless technology will allow police to access the images from computers anywhere, including their squad cars and possibly handheld devices, police say.

“It is designed to stop criminal activity or behavior,” said Ed Ray, Denver Public Schools security chief.

Surveillance cameras have been a growing part of the urban landscape throughout the country and the world.

The British government has spent about $1 billion since the 1990s to install an estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit cameras, or one camera for every 14 persons, according to a 2006 report by the Surveillance Studies Network, a panel of United Kingdom academics.

In the United States, cities including Baltimore, Minneapolis and Chicago have been increasing their video surveillance.

In Boston before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, police installed 30 cameras around the Fleet Center.

In 2001, face-recognition software was used for the first time at the Super Bowl to scan people entering the turnstiles to catch known criminals among the fans.

In Denver, police officials say no such software will be used.

The cameras can cost $20,000 for a hard-wired video unit permanently installed or $10,000 to $12,000 for a network of three or four wireless cameras that can be moved to other locations.

A number of surveillance cameras are already in place, including on Colfax Avenue.

Private-property owners have been using cameras for years. The Denver Pavilions, for example, has its own video- security system, according to Sarah McClean, spokeswoman for the Downtown Denver Partnership.

Denver Public Schools has 1,400 surveillance cameras in its 150 schools that feed into a central video system.

The Regional Transportation District has 475 cameras on its properties, buses and light rail.

Denver police officials say they are developing policies and standards for video surveillance and have rules already in place — such as prohibitions on using the cameras for voyeurism.

“We are going to respect the privacy rights of individuals; that’s through training, supervision, policies and procedures,” said Martinez, who added that the city is working with the ACLU on a draft policy.

“The ACLU has been meeting with city officials,” said Hazouri of the ACLU. “But we haven’t gotten anything from them to work with. You have to have procedures that don’t impinge or chill free expression of ideas, whether you agree with them or not. I don’t think video surveillance accomplishes anything.”

Jeremy P. Meyer was a reporter and editorial writer with The Denver Post until 2016. He worked at a variety of weeklies in Washington state before going to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin as sports writer and then copy editor. He moved to the Yakima Herald-Republic as a feature writer, then to The Gazette in Colorado Springs as news reporter before landing at The Post. He covered Aurora, the environment, K-12 education, Denver city hall and eventually moved to the editorial page as a writer and columnist.